


Hello Darkness (My Old ... Friend?)

by NikaylaSarae



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Sword mention, Talk about Fighting Monsters, Trouble Sleeping, injury mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28245597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikaylaSarae/pseuds/NikaylaSarae
Summary: Is it possible to search for something…for someone…when you don’t even remember that they’re missing?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Hello Darkness (My Old ... Friend?)

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted to my Tumblr account @stillebesat.
> 
> December Drabbles Day 22

He shouldn’t be awake. Roman knew that.  _ He shouldn’t be awake. _ He ran a hand through his already mussed hair, glancing at Patton’s and Logan’s darkened rooms as he passed by them. He quickly reached the end of the hallway and turned on his heel to head right back to the stairs to repeat the loop. 

Pacing. Because he couldn’t sit still. Pacing. Because his mind wouldn’t shut up. Pacing. And he didn’t know  _ why.  _

Thomas had gone to bed hours ago after a long day of difficult filming, drifting off so quickly that Roman hadn’t been needed to jumpstart a dream for him to fall asleep to. 

Truthfully, Roman hadn’t needed to stay up later than eleven to help Thomas fall asleep in forever. The last time they’d been up past midnight had been at last year’s New Year's Eve party, and even then, Thomas had struggled to stay awake. 

Tonight though, Roman had been unable to drift off. Cinderella’s hour had come and gone long ago, yet he continued to pace like a caged tiger up and down the hallway. Anxious, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.  _ Why _ couldn’t he fall asleep?! 

He knew it would be easier if he were actually laying down in bed with his eyes closed, but after an hour of tossing and turning, unable to find a comfortable spot, Roman had given up on that particular venture. 

He turned, once more passing Patton’s and Logan’s rooms, mind racing. Was it stress from earlier in the day? Filming had, after all, not gone quite to Logan’s scheduled plan. First, there had been a miscommunication on the time everyone had planned to meet up, then when they’d finally gotten together the weather had ended up far windier than expected making hearing everyone’s lines near impossible. And finally...they’d ended up having to make  _ three _ emergency trips to the local electronics store when well...he was sure the first camera could be salvaged from the lake...maybe...probably not. At least the memory card had survived the unfortunate dunking unlike the second camera or the now broken tripod. 

None of that was new though. There were always setbacks in filming. Unforeseen problems that didn’t arise until they were on location ready to work on the next video. Logan had even planned the schedule to make room for those potential problems so they wouldn’t fall behind! 

Roman bared his teeth, glaring at the end of the hallway as he stalked towards it. They technically weren’t behind. Not yet. There was no reason to stress over today. Filming, once they’d switched to their backup location, adjusted their mics, and  _ finally  _ got started, had gone flawlessly. 

Roman shook his head. No. That wasn’t right.  _ Flawlessly _ wasn’t the right word. 

He had felt it. It was expected as Creativity to realize that something was...lacking. 

_ How though?  _ Everyone had been doing so well! They had the character beats down. Their pacing just right. The flow of the scene uninterrupted. Even with the change in location they’d barely needed to alter the script because everything sounded--- 

He paused at the top of the stairs, drawing in a slow breath as he stared down into the darkened living room below. 

_ Something _ had been missing. He knew. There was a part of the script that wasn’t flowing right no matter how many times they filmed the scene.  _ A missing piece. _

He clicked his tongue, nodding to himself as he flicked his eyes to their original filming spots. The curtains, the TV, the side of the stairs, the stairs themse--Roman blinked shaking his head. No, Logan hadn’t stood on the stairs in ages. After the first couple of videos he’d moved to the side to give everyone better sight lines to each other. So why had he included the stairs? 

_ All these emotions and thoughts and complete turmoil? How could I not show up at this party? _

Roman groaned, scrubbing at his eyes. “Unbelievable.” He turned away. One night of staying up late and he was already losing his ability to think clearly. “I need sleep.” he mumbled as he stalked past his doorway once more. But how could he sleep if he couldn’t pinpoint the problem that was keeping him up?! Was it the script? It had to be something in the script. A line said by the wrong person. A stage direction that wasn’t quite right. But to Crofters if he knew just  _ WHAT _ they were missing! 

Roman glanced at Patton’s door as he once again passed it. Maybe it wasn’t packing enough of an emotional punch? Were their lines falling flat? He frowned, racking his memory. 

Gah. Pat would know best. He could sense exactly what needed to be done to convey the right message to their viewers--he hadn’t said anything earlier though about it not feeling right...of course he usually spoke up more during the editing part. But it wasn’t like Roman could exactly go ask him right  _ now _ if he felt that the script needed ‘more’ to it. 

No, not when it was the middle of the bloody night! The others shouldn’t lose their precious sleep because of him. 

He glared at the blank wall at the end of the hallway before turning to head back to the stairs. No, If Roman was ever going to find his own measure of sleep tonight, he needed to find the answer to this problem. NOW. 

A chill ran down his spine as a faint creaking reached his ears. He whirled, sword flashing into existence in his hands at the unexpected sound. “Who’s there?” He demanded in a loud whisper, searching the darkness at the end of the hallway.

Silence met him. 

Roman frowned. If it weren’t for the fact that Logan’s and Patton’s rooms had been nowhere near the noise...he would have thought one of the others had woken up.

Their doors remained firmly closed though. 

Tightening his grip on the sword he edged forward back to the end of the hallway. “Who’s there?” He demanded again, a little louder. He really didn’t need to deal with an intruder in the middle of the night along with his inability to sleep.

His vision fuzzed as he took another step. 

_ The bigger message is to just run away from your problems. _

Roman hesitated, but shook his head, working to clear his sight. If it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t in his room he’d think this a trick of the Dragon Witch. “Sometimes the best solution is to get out of a bad situation,” he muttered, pushing down the wave of deja vu that hit him. 

Had he said that before? 

“Whatever you’re doing.” Roman declared, lifting his chin, the creaking of old wood once again reaching his ears. “I’m not running!” Not from a sound. He was no  _ coward.  _ He gritted his teeth, moving forward despite his blurry vision, sword at the ready.

_ You tried. You failed. Just go to sleep. _

If he could sleep he wouldn’t have been standing here in the first place. “I am not afraid of you.” He was the Prince! A Knight, thank you very much. He didn’t run from strange noises in the middle of the night. “Come out!” 

A Prince doesn’t yelp. 

And Roman definitely didn’t make such a noise when a door slammed into existence with a loud bang right in front of him as his vision suddenly cleared. He definitely didn’t jump backwards, slashing wildly at said door as it swung closed in front of him. No, no a Prince did not do that. Not even a sleep deprived one. 

Roman lowered his sword, still on guard, heart hammering away in his chest like the frantic beat of a humming bird’s wings. 

That was...well...he gave a grim smile, a flutter of anticipation curling in his stomach. That had been  _ unexpected.  _ It had been a long  _ long  _ time since anything had got his blood racing like that. Not since they’d finally filmed the final battle between him and the Manti-Core Chimera. One injured man against a multi-headed venomous beast. It had been the battle of the ages. 

Something he only realized now, now that this--this--- _ door  _ had appeared, that he’d dearly missed. The anticipation of danger. The thrill of facing the unknown. 

Was this--he stalked forward on silent feet to the blackened doorway that looked like it had been there for years despite it only appearing a bare minute earlier. Right when he needed--

Oh. 

_ Needed.  _

“Is  _ that _ what you are?” He mumbled, tilting his head as he studied the faded silver scrollwork around the edges, his fingers hovering over the faint lightning bolt design on the handle. “Some kind of Room of Requirement?” 


End file.
